In the course of screening tyrosinase inhibitory activity, total methanolic extract and EtOAc-soluble fraction of Smilax china leaves showed significant inhibitory activity. Further fractionation and isolation of the EtOAc-soluble fraction resulted in 12 phenolic compounds, which were identified as 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (1), 3,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde (2), 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid (3), 3,4-dihydroxyacetophenone (4), 3-hydroxy-4-methoxy benzoic acid (5), trans-p-hydroxycinnamic acid (6), cis-p-hydroxycinnamic acid (7), trans-resveratrol (8), cis-resveratrol (9), dihydroresveratrol (10), moracin M (11) and kaempferol (12). Compounds 1-11 were first reported from this plant. Among the isolated compounds, compounds 2, 8, 9 and 12 showed strong inhibition on tyrosinase activity.